A 150 cow dairy farm in Staffordshire has seen milk yield increase by 225 litres a day following the implementation of key recommendations from an Alltech ® Navigate™ feed efficiency assessment .

Dairy farmer , Stuart Barrow , explains the changes made since the visit , and the subsequent benefits he has witnessed .

“ The Alltech Navigate assessment identified that increasing water trough space per cow could help boost water intake , which in turn would improve feed intake , efficiency and utilisation .

“ We ’ ve since increased the number of water troughs within our sheds meaning trough space per cow has risen from 6cm to

Andrew Linscott

the recommended 10cm , and also moved cows around to achieve a lighter stocking density .

“ I ’ m impressed by the difference we ’ ve seen . The suggested changes were all relatively lowcost to implement and milk yields have increased by an average of 1.5 litres per cow per day .

“ Milk solids have also increased , which was an unexpected benefit , as often an increase in yield can be associated with a reduction in solids . This will only help with future plans we have for the farm business .”

Since Alltech ® Navigate™ was launched less than a year ago ,

more than 20,200 cows have benefited from the pioneering advice service .

Andrew Linscott , Alltech technical sales manager , explains that the assessment is a simple three-step process which firstly looks at the critical pinch points across the whole feed process , before analysing the financial opportunities behind these pinch points , and providing actionable recommendations to better utilise invested inputs .

“ We recognise that every farm business is different with its own unique set of challenges and opportunities . We therefore spend at least two hours on-farm carrying out the initial farm assessment , which we can do so unaccompanied so farmers can continue with their day , and we will then take

farmers through our findings and recommended course of action .

“ At Stuart ’ s farm , the increase in milk production to 1.5 litres scales up to £ 21,352 per year when milk prices are at 26 pence per litre , which is significant . Seeing results like this not only assures on-farm production profitability , but also plays a wider role in helping to reduce carbon footprint intensity and improve sustainability .”

To find out more about the zerofee Alltech ® Navigate™ service , visit http :// www . alltech . com / uk / alltech-navigate or speak to your local adviser directly by calling 01780 764512 .

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